The IRS needs to work on improving how the agency tracks its modernization efforts, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released March 19.
Last year, IRS set forth its agency-wide strategic operating plan which highlights its vision for using billions of dollars of funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to help modernize agency operations with a heavy dose of technology upgrades.
GAO said the tax agency needs to arrive at a more detailed picture of its plans.
“Projects under the technology objective include ongoing modernization programs that have been modified to account for the new appropriations,” GAO said.
“However, plans showing changes to the scope of future work, milestones, and efforts to retire legacy systems have not yet been updated,” GAO said. “IRS officials stated that updating these plans is contingent on completing a roadmap to implement the strategic plan.”
GAO also found that after the IRS updated the agency’s strategic and operating plan and associated program documentation, it did not include a roadmap that indicated the technology objectives.
“[The IRS] said that this objective would be included in version two of the roadmap which they expected would be completed very soon,” GAO said. “Completing the roadmap and then updating ongoing IT modernization plans to reflect revisions driven by the strategic plan are essential to the transformation’s success,” the watchdog agency emphasized.
GAO also said IRS reports on its modernization efforts could “be improved by including programs’ historical cost and schedule goals and how quarterly performance compares to overall program goals.”
GAO offered three recommendations for the agency to improve its modernization efforts – and IRS concurred with each of them:
- IRS should complete the enterprise roadmap and ensure it addresses the strategic operating plan’s technology objective;
- IRS should complete plans for its modernization programs that include milestones to complete the modernization, a description of the work necessary to complete the modernization, and details regarding the disposition of the legacy system; and
- IRS should include a history of programs’ cost and schedule goals and showing how the quarterly cost and schedule performance aligns with fiscal year and overall goals for the programs in its quarterly reports to Congress.
